Boy with the Green Thumbs
by Plastic Dreams
Summary: The last thing Naruto needed while raising Ivy was to get involved with criminals, heroes and all their shenanigans. Too bad for him that even in his next life, luck gets the better of him. !MokutonNaruto !ChakralessStrongNaruto !CynicalSlightlyGreyNaruto !Harem
1. Diaper Run

_Hello reader! I'm currently on my alternate account posting this story as I do want to clog my own account up with brand new ones._

 _ **This fic contains a slight AU in DC**_ _, as_ _ **Naruto will be creating Poison Ivy**_ _using his 'plant powers'. You can probably guess what 'plant powers' mean, so no need to go too much into detail about it. Now,_ _ **Naruto doesn't use chakra, but he's very much stronger**_ _._

 _He possesses the same powers Ivy does, but at a higher level I suppose. Note, Ivy isn't the only person/creature Naruto is going to be creating. There'll be another, but you'll have to read further chapters to find out._

 _Pairings are more than likely going to be Naruto X Harem, with Ivy as the main girl, but we'll see how this goes._

 _I'll warn you now, many of the characters are much younger in age, especially many of the female characters as I'm making Naruto young as well._

 _Those currently confirmed as teenagers, around the same age as Naruto, while Batman is still an adult:_

 _Poison Ivy_

 _Catwoman_

 _(Maybe) Harley Quinn_

 _Barbara Batgirl (will be the same age as them, like Robin)_

* * *

 _Shuffling down the street, the innocent man knew better than to go home at the graveyard shifts of the night, especially in Gotham where crime was more prevalent than any other city. It was not a good place to raise a family in unless you were a) part of the mafia, b) incredibly lucky, c) rich enough to pay off whoever was bothering you. Corruption ran rampant in the city, its veins filled with the black scourge of crime. The chances of being robbed while you were walking down the street in broad daylight was one in a hundred, but when night came, that number multiplied by fifty._

 _Now, he found himself wishing he had taken that lower paying job option in Star City instead of Gotham._

" _You, tell me… the Diapers… Where is the nearest location for diapers?" The figure asked, lifting the unfortunate civilian up into the air effortlessly with just a single hand by his shirt. The figure's entire body was the size of a muscular grown man, but thick green vines were coiled across every part of his visible body, leaving only his two glowing red eyes visible (Robot Amazo). The quivering man being held up lifted a hand hesitantly, pointing it to the left where a glowing supermarket was located, illuminating the dark streets of Gotham with the assistance of the occasional lamp post._

" _Thank you… Your contribution has been most valuable." Lowering the man, he gently pushed him backwards. "Run along now, and don't turn back." His eyes glowed menacingly for a moment before the man releasing an ear-piercing shriek, running from the plant-like man with absolute haste. The figure chuckled, taking pleasure in scaring the man, before he stomped over towards the supermarket, fists raised in a terrifying manner._

* * *

 _Rudely awoken by a siren that blared throughout the mansion, Dick Grayson waved his hands and legs wildly as he got tangled up in his bedsheets. Unable to control his movements, he fell off the side of his bed in a heap, poking his head out from under the covers, eyes narrowed as his messy black hair went into his face._

" _It's time to get suited up, Dick." Tilting his head upwards from the boots to the blank face of his mentor, Dick groaned before throwing the blanket off him and getting up. Batman took a step back as the Boy Wonder got off the ground._

" _How are you even dressed? Do you go to sleep in that?" Dick asked as he chased after Batman, who was headed towards the entrance of the Batcave hidden behind the grandfather clock._

" _I'm always prepared. And Justice never sleeps." Batman responded as they dashed down the long walkway leading towards the Batmobile. Dashing past an array of trophies, each with their own significance to Batman from the different villains he had fought over the years, the billionaire made his way into the car while Robin slowly hopped behind Bruce on one foot, a glove in his mouth, as he pulled his boots into place. Removing the glove from his mouth and slipping it onto his hand, Robin answered back as Batman entered the Batmobile._

" _No seriously, I worry about you Bruce." Leaping into shotgun position, the roof slid shut and the Batmobile blasted off towards the robbery that was occurring in a supermarket._

* * *

" _Thank you," The large vine man said as the shaking stock-clerk nodded towards the strange being that towered over him by at least three heads, "I will now liberate a small amount of your store's diapers and leave." With that, he grabbed a large armful of the baby items and stomped away. Stepping over the counter and leaving behind slack-jawed witnesses of his strange crime of stealing diapers, vine man exited the store with a heavily hunched back as he was unable to fit through the door normally._

" _Hush, Ivy, it's rather difficult to control my fake body to rob a store, hold and feed you, as well as-" The vine man paused in his footsteps and stared blankly ahead, his eyes going dim for a moment as he began to mumble incoherently. Words that had nothing to do with the current situation spew forth from behind the vines where his mouth would've been. "Oh, did you just throw up on me? That's just lovely, Ivy. Absolutely lovely. I'm glad you did that…" Suddenly, another voice, very much younger and childlike came from his mouth._

" _Hehehe!" There was the sound of entertained clapping coming from his mouth, "Naru! Naru! Hehehe!"_

" _Laugh it up darling. I'll be holding this over your head when you're older, I kid you not. I'll destroy any relationships you'll be forming with boys, that's for sure." The large man began to walk once more, the glow in his pure red eyes returning once more._

 _However, a faraway vroom made itself clear to the plant man, who's named was assumed to be Naru. Spinning around with the diapers in hand, his red eyes opened by an inch as the car sped towards him. The top of the car seemed to have retracted and Batman was launched up into the air, before Batman opened up his cape and fell from the sky, his silhouette visible due to the moon behind him. Raising a hand, splints the size of a grown man's forearms were fired at Batman from Naru as he glided down from the night sky._

 _Not wanting to be impaled, Batman quickly pulled his grappler out and fired it to a nearby building, dodging the giant chunks of wood. Not paying attention to the moving car, it slammed into his side and sent Naru down the road and the diapers he stole all over the place. Robin bounced out like Batman did, only less explosive, and landed behind the car. Picking up one of the packages the large man stole, Robin was distraught._

" _Diapers? We woke up to stop a guy from stealing diapers?!" Robin groaned in irritation. "What do you even need them for?"_

" _You seem distraught, you ought to get traught." Robin was unable to retort or question what that even meant as he was sent careening down the road from a punch from Naru, who had managed to get up faster than Batman or Robin expected. "Now, to whom do I owe the pleasure of thanking for assault via vehicle and having my recently liberated diapers stolen from me?"_

 _Robin groaned again, but this time in pain, as he picked himself off the floor. "We're Batman and Robin," Naru's facial expression failed to change to one of recognition, nor did he say anything. "D-do you seriously not know of us? Are you new to Gotham?"_

 _Two batarangs were flung at Naru, to which he responded by swatting them aside with the back of his palm, forcing them to drop to the floor. Batman fell from the side of the building and landed next to Robin, glaring at the vegetation man from behind his cowl._

" _I am…" He paused, and Robin and Batman awaited the in tensed silence for the grand reveal of Naru's name in suspense. It seemed like a scene straight out from a movie, with both ends of both parties, the good and the bad staring off against each other. Batman's fingers twitched every so often during their stare off, ready to reach down into his pocket to pull out a batarang. Preferably an ice one as it would be wise to hinder his movements before making his next attack._

 _Robin just wanted to hit him multiple times with his collapsible staff for waking him up at 2 in the morning._

" _I am… The Green Bean."_

 _Robin's tensed shoulders slumped in confusion and disbelief._

" _Seriously?" He asked Green Bean, "Is this a prank? Am I getting punked right now?" Green Bean simply responded by firing more stakes at the pair, forcing them to roll apart as the multiple wooden sticks slammed into the tarmac ground. As he rolled, Batman tossed a batarang before standing back up and charging at Green Bean. Raising his hand to deflect the batarang again, he was caught off guard by the fact that his entire arm was now encased in ice after it had made contact with his limb._

" _This might be a problem." Green Bean commented and used his ice-encased arm to knock Batman away from him. He failed to realise that Robin had vanished earlier on, right as he had rolled away to the side. The Boy Wonder had climbed up a nearby building via a pipe and waited for Batman to lock down one of his arms. Upon seeing his mentor get knocked away, but get up after that, Robin leaped down from the top of the building, staff raised high up._

 _Realising that Robin was behind him, Green Bean, who was controlled by Naru, raised his arm to shoot the Boy Wonder down, only to realise that it was the same limb that had been frozen._

" _This might be a predica-" He tried to swing his other arm, only to find that his head had collapsed under the pressure of Robin's mighty swing. The Boy Wonder landed on Green Bean's shoulders before kicking off his body, backflipping and landing perfectly due to his circus heritage. Meanwhile, the red glow in his eyes went off and his body toppled backwards, slamming into the tarmac with a mighty boom._

 _Robin rushed forwards and placed the end of his staff against the neck of Green Bean just in case the plant creature woke up again._

" _Another one bites the- Whoa-?!" But before anymore could be said, Green Bean seemed to deflate, losing his body shape and being reduced to nothing more than just vines and logs, which slowly began to wither away._

 _Robin yelped and leapt backwards in worry that he too would turn into ashes. "W-What the heck?!"_

 _Batman grunted, obviously displeased that he had been unable to get any samples as there was nothing left to scan. Whatever that had been, it obviously had been some kind of scout made to examine their fighting abilities, technology and teamwork. They failed to notice a tendril reaching out from the sewers to snag a set of diapers before it quickly retreated back into the darkness, dragging the disposable baby underwear along with it._

* * *

 _Deep within the bowels of Gotham, A hand tinted a pale olive green grabbed the diaper that was handed to him via vine, shooing it off to store the rest of the diapers in the corner of his secluded paradise in Gotham's massive labyrinth, it's massive sewage system. It was an oasis amongst a land of garbage and pungent, foul-smelling water contaminated with garbage from the city above them. Naru, full name Senju Naruto, had carved out a fairly large room in the side of the sewer's walls with the help of his very useful powers and had specifically chosen this spot due to its strategic resource points._

 _Above his home was a power plant that provided the city most of its energy, as well as the reservoir of clean water beside it where he got his supply of water from._

 _His little oasis could be defined as a thriving hotspot for plants of all kinds._

 _Their habitat was completely lit up by multiple ceiling lamps that casted a bright white glow –he knew red lightbulbs were better, but they made looking at his surroundings very uncomfortable as the colour grated on his retinas loudly- from above onto every inch of the area. Vines and moss alike had climbed and grown over the previously gritty and grimy brick walls, spreading across like the wall like an insatiable green mass that hungered for more._

 _Some had even made their way onto the chains that held the lamps in place, but went no further than that in fear of upsetting their father. Shrubs that held edible berries as well as those toxic in nature had sprouted beneath small trees that bore fruits of all kinds, ranging from apples to even the exotic durian. It didn't matter what sort of climate they needed on the surface to survive, as down here, all they depended on was the teenage boy who had given them life from nothing. His very aura permeated the room with the very essence of life, thus allowing them to thrive and grow at ridiculous speeds._

 _There were even ordinary plants, from grass to weeds. Some weren't even discovered yet, while others were created through a series of cross-breeding and mixing their genetics._ _Most of the time he spent was either tending to his plants, creating new varieties of plants that wouldn't unbalance the scales between human and nature by killing off everything else, trying out mixtures of medicines from the medicinal herbs he collected from his powers, amongst other things. He also trained a lot due to utter boredom, pairing that with a diet of light energy he absorbed through his skin –which contained chlorophyll and toxins- and sources of plants that were high in protein, Naruto managed to build himself a body that was both lithe and muscular for agility and power._

 _Naruto's powers had already given him naturally enhanced strength, beyond that of the average person. Absolute control over plant life, able to secrete toxins through his skin, capable of releasing pheromones that could influence someone's thoughts suggestively or allow for complete mind control, and immunity to all forms of toxins, venoms and poisons._

 _Sighing, the boy that had a head of spiky blonde hair placed the toddler down onto the makeshift table he had created from using a bush. Removing the horrible makeshift diaper he had created with leaves and vines, he deposited it into a hole in the ground and moved his hand slightly, causing a tendril to sprout in the hole and to drag it into the makeshift dumping ground._

 _He was pretty eco-friendly. After all, he did see himself as Mother Nature's balancer, like the guy who weighs the food you buy at supermarkets and tags them, clearly revaluating his life choices._

 _He sighed, realising that her bottom was still dirty and lifted the girl up by her arms before bringing her out of their home. Immediately after stepping outside, Naruto was met with one of the many waterways that lead to different parts of Gotham's water treating facilities funded by one Bruce Wayne, some rich philanthropist. Naruto appreciated his contribution to ensuring that Earth's water supply would be reused again without having to harvest her for more._

" _Here we go, Ivy…" Placing the child on the cement floor, he pulled out a bottle of water and began washing her bottom clean, "Now, don't fall in that water," He warned, "You'll catch a cold… and Hepatitis A. You know, really great stuff. Keep in mind that just because you got most of my abilities doesn't mean that you're immune to diseases. I can't be held responsible for you being a little idiot."_

" _Boo, Naru!" She puffed her cheeks up and crossed her arms, frowning at Naruto for calling her a little idiot. Sometimes he forgot that she was smart. Well, smart enough to understand him most of the time. Was it from his genes?_

 _Regardless, he replied with playful snark in his voice. "Boo me some more, maybe next time you can clean your own butt, hm? You're like a T-Rex now, you have tiny hands and you won't be able to do squat without my help, Ivy."_

 _Ivy gave Naruto a raspberry, blowing her_ _tongue and lips at him, expressing her childlike derision. He gave her a small grin at her playfulness, causing her to grin as well. She seemed to really like it when he smiled, no idea why. It wasn't as if he was the more cheerful star in the galaxy._

" _C'mon kiddo, let's get your diapers on you." Picking her back up, he and Ivy re-entered their home._

 _She was his creation after an idea from years of solitude, created partially from his genes and the DNA of a mixture of the most toxic plants, giving her the perfect immune system to anything that wasn't a disease. Naruto guessed that in the future, she would begin to awaken her true potential and would unlock the abilities she inherited from him that lay dormant in her. Of course, only time would tell and thanks to her part plant nature, she grew faster than any human child. That would eventually stop after a certain age from her human side, presumably when she reached his current age, thus setting them on equal footing._

 _Slipping the diapers onto her, Naruto quickly set her down into the hammock she had been using as her bed for months as she began to yawn, tired from a day's work of doing what the average human-plant baby did which consisted of crawling everywhere, talking unintelligibly to plants even though they didn't speak back, as well as playing with Naruto._

 _As she slept soundly, Naruto raked his fingers though her hair lovingly before making his way outside yet again. Turning down the corner, he was faced with a familiar yellow underbelly that was scaled. Tilting his head upwards, he stared into the slitted yellow reptilian eyes that glowed menacingly in the dark. The scaled man before him was physically imposing, and the large visible teeth that were sharp as small daggers often scared men larger than Naruto._

 _The teen simply blinked and nodded to him, "Hello Croc, what brings you to the outskirts of my quaint little home?"_

 _The reptilian man seemed to frown, though that was hard to tell when his facial expression didn't change._

" _I need your help."_

* * *

 _Preview for future chapter:_

 _"Who the fuck is that?!" Ivy growled at the teenage girl beside her best friend, who smirked at Ivy's temper as she spun a pair of goggles around her finger. Her usually green skin, specifically her cheeks, was lit up with a tinge of red, showing her anger. Naruto sighed, rubbing his temples slowly. He knew this would happen, Ivy was very, very attached to him and it was predictable that she would act like this._

 _"I see someone's green with jealousy." The girl giggled playfully at her pun, bringing the leather gloved hand that was holding onto her goggles up to her mouth. Her outfit consisted of a tight fitting tank-top covered by a leather-jacket with fur around the collar. Her midriff was bare, showing off her toned stomach and bellybutton while her lower body was clad in what looked to be spandex leggings that allowed for easy movements while also emphasising her teenage curves that were improving day by day as she went through puberty._

 _"Not helping, Selina." Naruto told her sharply, to which she ignored. "It's a long story, Ivy." He gave the pixie-cut girl a pointed look. "And Selina was just leaving."_

 _"Awh, why can't you tell her how you saved me, Naruto? Cat gotcha tongue?"_

* * *

 _ **I do hope you enjoy it, and if you did, please leave a review, be it positive or negative. Just trying out an idea I came up in an hour.**_

 _ **Sorry for the short chapter, but again, this is just a 'pilot' chapter, so to speak.**_

 _ **It's also wise to note that this story has no fixed 'plot' so to say, as I'll be making up my own scenarios or using parts from shows or the Batman games. Expect other Superheroes from DC to come in as well.**_

 _ **TTFN.**_


	2. Turf Wars and Training

_If you're having a hard time picturing how Naruto looks like, a good example would be something like Obito's skin colour and body shape (though not yet the same size as he's in his early teens, around fourteen-ish give or take) in his Sage Mode without all the extra stuff._

 _Apologies if this chapter seems slightly rushed or jerky. This is because I tend to write in different parts. In this chapter, I began with the middle two parts of the chapter as the start of the chapter before I changed my mind and decided to write a new start as the continuation from the last chapter._

 _I'll be sure not to make the same mistake again._

 _Lastly,_ _ **a huge thank you to all those who reviewed, reviews mean a lot to me!**_

 _Now, on with the chapter!_

* * *

 _A few hours before the end of chapter one._

* * *

 _Between the two buildings, two groups of men dressed in similar fedoras, suits and trench coats, each holding onto sub-machine guns such as the Thompson 1928 and handguns, the Smith and Wesson Model 19 revolver and the semi-automatic Colt M1911A1._

 _Killer Croc watched as the men he was hired to fight for take cover from the hail of bullets headed towards them. Croc grunted as he hid behind a thick concrete wall, growling as he heard the bullets pinging off the walls or cracking and damaging them. He was sure that it wouldn't be too long before his protection was shredded down to nothing but pieces of concrete and bent sticks of rebar. He was fairly certain that he wouldn't be able to take on so many bullets at once either. He was capable of taking multiple shotgun blasts to the chest as his dense muscles and thick hide ensured that he was fairly protected from bullets, but it wasn't exactly… healthy to do so._

" _Falcone's, give me some covering fire!" Croc shouted over the loud bangs to one of the members of the mafia who nodded. He did duck his head, cringing as one of the bullets ricocheted off the hood of the empty car –one they had previously abandoned upon arrival as the shooting began- he was using as cover, narrowly missing his head. He bravely raised his hands after mustering his courage, lifting his Thompson 1928 up onto the hood of the car to give Killer Croc the distraction._

 _They heard a Maroni scream, warning his fellow gang members to move it or lose it._

" _Scram!" The Thompson went off with a rat-a-tat-tat, spraying Falcone bullets at the Maroni mobsters._

 _Unfortunately for some of the enemy gang members, they were a tad bit too slow in moving their feet and were gunned down. Many were shot in areas they would mostly be able to recover from such as their arms or legs. Those who took a bullet to those areas managed to crawl or scramble away while shouting in pain, but a handful were fatally shot, dropping to the ground as their vision went black either slowly or instantaneously._

 _Thankful for the covering fire, Croc moved fast and headed towards the man who had provided him the distraction. The man watched in horror, thinking that Croc was about to crush him, rolling aside, only to see that Croc had charged straight into the car._

" _Hwah!" Croc grunted with a downwards snout as he shoulder-bashed the door of the car with the force put behind his understandably heavy weight, denting the metal with ease. As everyone expected, the car was sent skidding towards the Maroni's. Those who had been shot in the leg from the earlier bout of bullets were unfortunately crushed between the steps of the building and the car that slammed into their bodies._

" _Fuck! We should have gotten some baddies to back us up!" Croc heard one of the Maroni's yell to his friends, apparently displeased that the Falcone's had the brains to hire Croc as muscle for their turf war. Grinning savagely, Croc wrapped his clawed hand around the area of the door where the window once was, while the other grabbed the bottom of the door. With a pull, Croc easily dismembered the car's door, raising it in front of himself as a Maroni unloaded all of his revolver's bullets into his makeshift shield._

 _Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!_

 _Six shots rang out, and Croc smirked from behind the shield as he heard the next sound as well as the horror in the man's voice._

 _Click._

" _FUCK!" Once more, Croc raised his arms high up, lifting the car door up before he chucked it forwards at the horrified man. The door frisbe'd towards the man and slammed into his stomach, taking him down to the ground. Croc gave a loud roar before scaling the car, denting its damaged body with his feet with each step he placed onto it._

 _The man pinned beneath the ground was unable to scream, partially from the pain of having a car door slammed into his stomach, as well as the fact that Crocodile had wrapped his monstrous hand around his head, picking him off the ground with just one hand._

" _Today just isn't your day, is it?" With a squeeze, the man's head popped like a grape, and his headless body was dropped to the ground by the reptilian man with a thud. Throwing his elongated snout up into the air, Croc gave another roar, warning the shivering Maroni's of what was to come as he and many of the Falcone's stormed their building._

* * *

 _A massacre was left behind in their wake as the surviving Falcone's and Croc left the building, each grim, but glad to have survived the turf war. It would be an important lesson to the Maroni's not to fuck with the Falcone's._

 _At least, not to fuck with them for a while._

 _Everyone from both gangs knew that whoever got the upper hand today would soon be in for a treat as the loser would have their revenge, whether it be tomorrow or next year. It was a never ending cycle of violence, death and mayhem in Gotham, fuelled by money and power, but mostly pride._

 _Croc stepped out onto the pavement between both buildings, behind him the car he had shoved and the man he killed laying at the entrance of the building he had just left. They'd probably need a really good janitor to get rid of the bloodstains and bodies. He was sure some of it had gotten to the ceiling as he smashed and killed brave, but screaming, mobsters._

 _Unfortunately, he had taken quite a few shots to the arm and thighs. Thankfully, they were superficial wounds, and were mere hindrances. Nothing to worry about. Though, to leave them in his body would be a problem, so he'd have to visit his first and good friend, Naruto, for the removal of bullets._

 _But first, he had to get his pay from the Falcone's._

* * *

With Naruto

* * *

"I need your help." Croc muttered, and Naruto raised an eyebrow, glancing at the bullet holes in his arms and legs. The blonde nodded, not saying a thing while gesturing for Croc to follow him.

They settled outside of Naruto's home, where Naruto entered temporarily to retrieve the items he had made for Croc whenever the crocodilian man came over to get his wounds patched up. In Naruto's hands were a large roll of thick gauze and a bowl containing a mashed up green paste.

Gesturing downwards with his head for Croc, an indication for him to sit down, Naruto squatted down next to the wall of muscle with a neutral look. "Alright. Let's get you fixed up… Again."

"Heh, sorry kid. I owe you one." Croc gave Naruto a grin as he held his arm out, allowing Naruto to access the limb easily. He watched as Naruto performed what he always did whenever Croc came to him with bullet holes. From the middle of his palm, his skin seemed to vibrate slightly before a pair of tweezers slowly emerged, pushing apart his skin without causing any form of damage to him. They were smooth and brown, showing that it was made of wood.

"It seems you have gotten senile, Croc. You owe me _many_." Naruto emphasised the last word, but his voice was as calm as ever and held zero rancour. It could've been misconstrued by anyone else as a threat promising grievous bodily harm, but considering that Croc had known Naruto for a few years, he knew the boy well enough to know that he was joking in his own special way.

Croc found the blonde child's cold and cynical humour refreshing.

Silently using the tweezers, Naruto dug it into the first would he found and used the tip of the tweezers to pinch the bullet that resided on the surface of Killer Croc's skin. While Naruto was working on Croc's injuries, Croc seemed to pick up the unasked question of how he got the wounds. Honestly, the boy was like a little brother to him and yet the child was so worrisome about his health, something Croc greatly appreciated.

"Eh, I was working for the Falcone gang. They got me as hired muscle to get rid of some of the Maroni's in a nearby building. Soon it turned into a turf war and shit kicked off. We won, but with many casualties." Croc _'hmped'_ uncaringly since they meant nothing to him.

His end goal was to become the leader of the criminal underworld and he didn't particularly mind taking out most of his competition while he climbed his way to the top. "Doesn't matter. All I got were superficial wounds. I just wanted to get paid." Croc finished.

Naruto paused as he pulled out yet another bullet, dropping it to the rough concrete they were currently occupying for their makeshift operation. "Speaking of money, shouldn't you be paying me for being your personal doctor and medic?"

"Nah," Croc gave a hearty chuckle from his elongated snout, ignoring the two globes of blue that rolled around in Naruto's head. "Your prices are insane, kiddo."

Naruto stared blankly at Croc, "I don't charge you anything."

"Exactly, insane. Any reasonable man would've been draining me dry for all the medical service you've been giving me." Naruto nodded, not seeming to care in the first place. He had no need for money. He was sure that Croc could find better use of it than he.

"Nevertheless, I hope you visit soon. Ivy misses her godfather, and it'd be nice of you to drop by every once in a while without the reason for it involving me fixing your wounds." Wrapping up the injured parts with the thick gauze which was coated in his special healing paste made from various plants, Naruto tied them in knots to secure them.

"Thanks Naruto, and don't worry. The next time I visit I'll bring gift, alright? I see you later, and don't forget to say hi to Ivy and give her a big hug for me." Naruto nodded to Croc's request and both stood up. Thanking him one more time, Croc turned and began to vanish down the sewers.

Naruto sniffed and looked downwards before he offhandedly asked as Croc was leaving, "Say, before you leave… You wouldn't happen to know where to get the most convincing fake identification cards and unofficial papers from…" There was a brief pause before Naruto looked back at Croc with an emotionless face. But the look in Naruto's eyes was one of questioning, "Would you?"

The large criminal gently ran his clawed fingers over his recently patched wounds. "Why?" Croc asked with an unseen eyebrow raised, "You thinking of going up to the surface?"

Naruto's blue eyes looked down momentarily. "It's better to be safe than sorry."

Croc stared at Naruto for a moment before nodding. "Fine. You give me what you want as your info, basic stuff, and I'll come by tomorrow to visit Ivy and to collect it. I may know some guys who have connections to black market identity thieves. I'll pay for it. Consider it a quarter of my debts paid, huh?"

* * *

 _A few months later._

* * *

Cars sped about the wet streets of Gotham, each full of different passengers going about their daily routines. However, the gloominess of the grey city was elevated from the appearance of abnormally grey clouds that prevented sunlight from reaching the city's surface. Alongside that was the addition of the massive rainstorm that currently poured out from the clouds, making the whole city's vibe even more drab and dreary that it originally was. The streets were flooded as the water desperately searched for a way to escape, finding passage to escape from the surface in the form of the hundreds upon thousands of entrances to the sewers that lined the edges of sidewalks.

They poured into the cloaca that had been dug out for them, bringing rainwater and forcing the previously slow pace of the sewage system to speed up dramatically, visibly pushing garbage that floated along the surface of the disgusting sewer water.

Naruto waved his hand and a tree grew quickly along the entrance, covering it and preventing any water from flowing into their home. He huffed in relief that he had prevented his and Ivy's little oasis from being flooded with the filth from above.

Speaking of Ivy… Naruto turned back to the smiling face of a seven year old child, whose amazing green eyes paralleled that of her smile, showing uncontrolled mischief and boundless energy ready to be released. Her shoulder-length hair had been bunched up to both sides of her head, making her resemble a rose (Ivy's hair can be seen in the animated show 'The Batman'). Her cheeks had lost most of her baby fat naturally, causing her sharp nose and cheekbones to stand out, making her look very beautiful.

Dressed in a tube dress made in the same materials of vines and leaves that hid her nudity well, it was clear that Ivy had grown exponentially over the course of a few months, something she had to thank her plant heritage for as Naruto had taken the part of the bamboo that caused it to grow faster than ever other plant and placed it inside of Ivy's seed before she was born. He had made sure to alter it so that the human DNA inside of her would cull the bamboo's enhanced growth capabilities when she was around his age.

Her chest had yet to grow yet as she had yet to hit puberty, but Ivy didn't really care due to her one track mind.

She leapt into his arms and looked upwards, giving him a blinding grin that showed her perfectly lined teeth. "Narutooo~! I'm bored. Let's play!"

He gave her a smirk as he sat backwards. As he succumbed to gravity, a small tree formed the behind him in the shape of a loveseat. "Didn't we just play Hide and Seek? Wasn't that enough for you, Ivy, darling?"

Ivy placed her hands at the side of her hips despite being in his lap, leaning her head upwards in which she pouted in an upset manner at Naruto's face. "No we didn't, that was yesterday!" Naruto smiled softly at her distraught outburst.

"You know I distinctly remember reading books for fun when I was your age." They were books that Croc, his good friend and Ivy's godfather, had stolen specially for him while the reptilian was on the surface working for the Mafia. Over the years that Croc had been gifting him the random books, he had amassed a small library's worth of books that covered an array of subjects. His favourites were definitely the ones about the human body and styles of fighting.

Admittedly, he wasn't very good at the last one, but he was getting somewhere with his training. He was thankful that he had already trained up his body, which spared him the time to gain muscles.

"Well, that's 'cos you're a nerd, Naruto!" She, very much like Naruto, disregarded the fact that she was partially his daughter. Not enough to full be his daughter, but she had enough DNA to be a second cousin at most. Thus, also disregarding the fact that he had also been the one to have created her from just a mere seed, she always made fun of Naruto for his high intelligence. That was ironic as she herself was a genius, inheriting knowledge over plants naturally from Naruto.

"Alright, let's play then." Ivy gave a cheer, jumping out of Naruto's grasp and onto the grassy floor. With athleticism, she leaned backwards, bending her back at an incredible angle and placing her palms onto the ground before kicking her legs up into the air and landing perfectly on her feet.

Ah, right. Croc had brought back books for gymnastics and yoga as well, which Ivy had taken quite the liking to as it allowed her to perform such stunts. It was a pity the calm and relaxing yoga failed to reign in her inexhaustible energy.

"Okay, I'll be the seeker, now go hide!" She commanded Naruto, who stood up. Instantly, the tree he was using as a seat began to grow in reverse, vanishing back into the dirt as if it had never been there in the first place. Ivy ran to the wall, covering her eyes as she began counting down from twenty.

"Twenty… One!" Turning around after counting down, Ivy's face sported a large grin in excitement, only for it drop when she saw that Naruto was still standing at the same place he was standing at twenty seconds ago.

"Oh, you caught me!" Naruto's voice was one of surprise, but his face was still straight, "That was fun-"

"No! Naruto, you always do this!" She growled, punching him as hard as she could –very weakly- at Naruto's muscular abdomen. "I just want to play with you!"

"But we've already played this…" Naruto's voice slowly died out as noticed that Ivy's lower lip was trembling and her eyes were going watery. Was this what was known as crying? He hadn't seen this in person before as Ivy had always been a well-behaved, if not mischievous, child and even as a baby, she hadn't cried once. Her childhood basically consisted of giggles, cheers and unintelligible baby speech.

Sniffing, she began to swipe her eyes with the back of her hand and Naruto felt a twinge in his chest that caught him off-guard. Was that the feeling of guilt? He never was good with emotions, having abandoned them long ago. He didn't want to experience the pain he had felt in the past, nor did he want to remember those people again.

"Oh, Ivy… I-I apologise …" He spoke sadly, a very rare emotion that he allowed to surface. He hadn't used it since all those years ago…

"I-I… Ju-Just wanna spe-spend more ti-time… wi-with Naru-Naruto…" She sobbed softly, hiccupping after every few words. Naruto furrowed his eyebrows in worry and felt that the best course of action to take was to give her a hug. That's what people did when they wanted to show that they cared for their loved one right?

So, Naruto quickly swooped forwards and kneeled down in order to get to her height, and wrapped his arms around her waist. Ivy responded quickly to the physical affection, hugging back with double his intensity, creaking his ribs slightly from her force.

She definitely inherited his strength.

As they connected, placing their bodies against one another, Naruto failed to see the devious and pleased smile on Ivy's face as she snuggled into his shoulder, secretly enjoying his warmth. What a sly little vixen!

"I love you, Naruto." Naruto's eyes widened slightly, showing his surprise at her words. She had always said that, but this time he felt an even stranger twinge in his heart. It was probably just the way she had spoken it, with so much assurance.

Perhaps it wouldn't be too bad to show his emotions, this was Ivy after all. And Ivy would never hurt him like that. The girl was practically incapable of doing it. "…I love you too, Ivy." He said with equal conviction in his voice, and Ivy blushed.

Ah! This was exactly how the scene played out in that princess book Godpa Croc gave to her as a present. Absolutely romantic!

Pulling away with reluctance, Ivy poked a finger into Naruto's chest, jabbing at his heart softly like an upset loved one would. "Now c'mon, we still have a game of Hide and Seek to play, and don't think that you'll get away with doing nothing this time, mister!"

"Fine, fine… I'll be the seeker this time, alright darling?" Ivy grinned before rushing off after Naruto turned around, skipping away to another part of their home –which had been expended drastically since the last time- to hide.

And thus, as the rainclouds on the surface parted, allowing for sunshine to hit the gloomy Gotham City, an unknown bud was also placed into Naruto's walled-up heart by Ivy, of which would only grow larger and larger as time went on.

* * *

Ivy concentrated with her visibly eyes clenched shut, taking slow and deep breaths as Naruto watched her progress in front of her. Part of her skin had turned to around the same colour his was whenever he chose to rid himself of his green tint, which was a pale white, with Naruto's being slightly tanner for whatever reason.

Her legs now differed from her upper torso, with them being the pale white skin that lacked chloroplasts. They still contained toxins, but it was now very difficult to absorb sunlight through their skin as they effectively, to put it in simpler terms, 'shut off' the chloroplasts in their skin. This would allow them to blend in plain sight when the need would undoubtedly arise, and considering Ivy's urge to escape from their home for adventure, he knew that one day she would leave the nest whether he wanted her to or not.

And what then? Would he replace her with another? No, that wouldn't be nice at all and would send a bad message to Ivy, thinking that she was easily replaceable. But if Ivy were to leave, Naruto would be plunged back into that endless pit of boredom and loneliness she –and Croc- had saved him from.

Choosing to ignore those thoughts, Naruto nodded at the progress she had made. Her shoulders were now the same colour of her legs, with only her neck and face left to convert. Sooner or later, with practise, she would be able to do it as fast as he could.

"Good job Ivy, you're almost there." Since that day, Naruto had tried to be more expressive when with Ivy as he didn't want another repeat of that horrible guilt trip.

Ivy didn't respond to Naruto's words of encouragement out of the fear that she would lose all of her progress. As she continued, the pale skin marched upwards to her neck, swallowing her previously green skin and replacing it.

It seemed as though she was starting to have a hard time as Ivy began to perspire furiously, very much like how plants lost water from the underside of their leaves in other to respire, though it wasn't alike in anyway. It was simply her overexerting herself from the training. Despite it looking like an easy task, it certainly wasn't as it finally caused Ivy to suddenly break concentration. Her eyes shot open in surprise and her skin seemed to morph like that of an octopus camouflaging itself, turning back to its green tint from top to bottom.

Breathing heavily, Ivy looked up with a frown on her face. "Damn it, I nearly got it! Let me try again."

"No, Ivy, you're taking a break." Naruto placed his hand onto her shoulder. His eyes were slightly narrowed, the hair above them furrowed to show his worry.

"But-" Ivy attempted to protest, only to find Naruto placing a finger on her lips.

A massive burst of red formed beneath her green cheeks, matching the colour of her hair. Thankfully, the green of her cheeks subdued most of the brightness, giving her to slightest tinge of red on her cheeks. "No, buts," He shushed her while removing his finger in the process, "Take a break, now."

Ivy would've argued even more, but upon seeing the silent look of distress on Naruto's face she decided to settle for a small sigh and a smile.

"Ok, but you're going to have to entertain me while we're on my break!" Naruto couldn't do anything but accept, knowing that Ivy wouldn't settle for less. He didn't mind though, as time with Ivy was something he wanted to get the most out of before she grew up.

* * *

 _Recently, after a second fight between both mafias._

* * *

" _So you're sayin' some of our boys got offed by the Falcone's? Again?" There was a slight Italian accent to the burly figure's voice. He sat in the chair and removed the large cigar from his mouth with his index finger and thumb, leaning forwards as he breathed smoke out from his nose, "And some giant alligator chump killed 'em?" The two muscular men, apparent from their large silhouettes, shifted slightly and the snivelling man the Don was talking to flinched slightly before regaining his composure and clearing his throat._

" _Yeah, boss…" The low ranking henchmen scratched his head awkwardly. He was one of those who had turned tail and ran upon seeing the fearsome Killer Croc in the flesh. "It was Killer Croc, yeah. We would've gotten the Falcone's if that freak hadn't gotten in the way!" He tried to push the blame off himself for abandoning his fellow gang members, to which the Don nodded in a sagely manner._

" _And, uh, who started this little fight with the Falcone's, eh?" The Don asked in a questioning tone._

 _The ratty man gulped deeply before spitting out a random name, one of a deceased friend. "It was, um, Gotti, boss. He started it." The burly figure nodded again, returning his cigar to his mouth. Taking a deep inhalation of his cigar, the boss of the Maroni allowed the pungent smoke to fill his lungs. He tilted his head up before slowly blowing it into the face of his subordinate, who closed his eyes and batted at the smoke._

 _Opening his eyes after the smoke was cleared, a large fist slammed into the centre of his face, knocking him backwards off of his chair and to the ground._

" _Agh!" Giving a yelp, he clutched at his nose, which was bleeding profusely. It was definitely broken from the powerful punch, and the man began to crawl away as his boss made his way over to him. His expensive dress shoes stepped quietly across the expensive carpet that lined his floor, each step making the man on the ground whimper._

" _You think I don't know the fuck happened? You little shit! You think you can fuckin' lie to me?! I know you were involved in both, you fuckin' rat!" Another fist slammed into the side of his head, bouncing his skull off of the floor. With his head rattled and concussed, the man was unable to do anything as a painful beat down was laid down upon him by his –former- boss._

 _Finally done punching the twitching man, the leader of the Maroni's, a man with a receding hairline, stood back up and wiped his wet forehead with a handkerchief he pulled from his pocket. A snap of his fingers made the two men behind him stand straight, awaiting their boss's orders._

" _Felix, hurt him then get rid of him." One of the guards that was standing behind him moved up and dragged the body out of the office with haste, bringing him to who knows where. "Harry, I want this Killer Crocs' head on my desk. I don't care who the fuck kills him, but I want his fuckin' head. Capiche?"_

 _The man nodded before leaving the room and with that said, the cigar was removed from the Don's mouth harshly before it was grinded into the ash tray head first, snuffing the embers of the brown stick out._

 _Salvatore Maroni wasn't a man you wanted on your bad side._

* * *

 _Chapter End._

* * *

 _Uh-oh! I wonder who will be hired to hunt Croc's head?_

 _Rest assured, it's no one from the Naruto-verse. I have a few ideas in mind, but I'm still mulling over who to send because this unselected character will play a fairly important role in this story, so I don't want to rush it._

 _I hope I did a good job on the chapter. Some of the characters may seem OOC, but only by a little as Naruto had influenced them._

 _Croc is a better person due to being good friends with -pretty much an older brother to- Naruto and is Ivy's godfather. Since he never received friendship as a child, Croc obviously treasures his family very much, thus he is nicer._

 _Ivy isn't as seductive (for obvious reasons. But she will be, just not yet at least) as she is when she's an adult. As shown during Naruto's hug, she had a Naruto-complex and loves him very much. She will be experiencing more of the feelings when she grows to Naruto's age, which is in the next few chapters._

 _Please review and tell me what you think!_


	3. M is for Ma(ca)roni

_**NOTES:**_

 _ **Selina Kyle**_ _and her future successor,_ _ **Holly Robinson**_ _, are surrogate sisters. They have been de-aged and are very much younger, with_ _ **Holly being around 10-11**_ _and_ _ **Selina being around 14-15.**_

 _ **Ivy is looks 11**_ _at this point in time, pretty impressive for being nearly a year old right?_

 _ **Naruto is still 15-ish.**_

 _Hope you all can forgive me for not posting more often but I was just planning everything as best as I could. This chapter is a little messy to me and may be rewritten in the future._

* * *

The ceiling of the sewer dripped with rancid water, hitting the worn bricks that lined the floor neatly. It wasn't very surprising that after years of continuous dripping, many of the bricks had corroded slightly from being constantly pelted by the acidic liquid. The monotonous chain was broken when two figures, one very large and the other small, brushed past the area.

Killer Croc and Naruto were navigating the treacherous and foul-smelling warren. Each route they took, there awaiting behind a corner was three more paths, each one leading either further away or closer to the exit. It was a complete puzzle and it was one that required memory and practise to solve. Sure there were exits above them, all around Gotham actually, in the form of manholes, but they lead to the middle of the city. And coming out of a manhole to meet the sound of honks and a blinding light wasn't something either of them wanted to deal with. Not to mention how conspicuous it was.

Thankfully, the pair had been living in the sewers for quite some time and had already gotten acquainted to the complex web they called home and had spent more than a handful of hours searching for exits that led to the city that didn't involve crawling out of holes in the centre of the street in the lane of oncoming traffic.

Croc took the lead while Naruto followed closely behind him as they slowly made their way out of the sewer. They were both dressed in clothes commonly worn by the mafia, which held true to Naruto's clothes as they were picked off a dead Falcone Family member who was shot in the head. That much was obvious from the bullet hole that was in the centre of his grey fedora. There was even a little bit of the blood left over surrounding the bullet hole belonging to its previous owner. Naruto didn't really care if the clothes came from a dead man as he was not one to complain about what he was given. He'd have preferred if he could just wear his plants as his clothes as he normally did, but for the sake of wanting to keep a low profile Naruto accepted the clothes without much question. They both wore a trench coat over it as well, which provided a good source of insulation from the chilly winds of Gotham's night.

Croc wore a similar outfit, except this one was tailored for a man his size with it being extra-extra-extra-extra-large, with emphasis on extra in the regions where his ridiculously broad shoulders were. Not to mention the hole that had been made at his backside where a large tail emerged from. And besides, not many people would stop a person dressed like they were in Gotham, nor one of Croc's size, in the middle of the night or not. Well, unless you wanted to get shot up by the mafia. People often tended to look the other way in a crime-ridden city. It was every man for themselves or as many of Gotham's citizens liked to say _"Better you than me"._

Croc tilted his snout over his shoulder as he trudged forwards through the dank underground with his good friend, "I thought you said you wanted me to handle it? Something happen to make you change your mind?"

"Well I'd like to see the process for myself, as well as make a few contacts who may prove to be of use to me in the future." Naruto spoke up from behind, "Learning about how things function in the underworld, the different villains, their trademarks, gangs, businesses and whatnot may all be handy as well since Ivy nor I have citizenship and are not 'normal'. Building bonds is normal amongst normal humans, yes? Not to mention that in the future, show we require things that are illegal in nature, we know where we can get them." He informatively told Croc," That costumed vigilante I briefly fought going by the name of Batman and his apprentice Robin might become a thorn in my side in the future and I wish to know where I can get replacement documents and false identity cards in the future just in case they check up on us. Befriending a creator of such useful items may benefit Ivy and I."

Croc appreciated Naruto concern for Ivy and the lengths he was willing to go to ensure her safety. However, Croc suddenly took a double take, voice filled with confusion, "Wait… Di-Did you say you... fought? You fought _Batman and Robin_?"

"Oh, yes. I did." Naruto clarified with an air of indifference, "I met them a few months ago on a diaper run, when Ivy was still a toddler." Croc brought his sharpened fingernails beneath his hat and started scratching his scaly head.

"And you never brought this up, why?" He asked with confusion in his voice.

"I didn't think it was necessary at the time." He said simply as if it wasn't that important. Croc would've face-faulted were this some form of Japanese animation, but composed himself slightly. It wasn't everyday someone met the Bat and the Bird and got away without being dragged off to Arkham. And unless you had some way of constantly breaking out -like the mentally unsound Joker who could somehow break out more times than anyone could bother to count- or had deep connections, and a lot of money, with the corrupted members of the GCPD like Black Mask did, getting out of Arkham was... difficult. Very difficult.

He could attest to that considering the handful of times he had been hauled off by the Bat. Taking on Batman was already a challenge but with his annoying loudmouth sidekick who couldn't keep his yap shut, the difficulty doubled.

 _Oh what he'd do to get his hands around that damn brat's neck!_

Croc blinked his beady eyes before walking again, snapping out of his daydream. This time, they were slowly approaching the exit both commonly used to leave the sewers. It was a large crack in the wall, partially made from a mixture of bricks and mud. It was obviously poorly made and was more than likely the last thing built by the construction workers, who probably decided to build it in a half-assed fashion before calling it a day. The floor was littered with loose bricks and chucks of hardened earth, proof that they had done a poor job with the last wall. Naruto was certain they had even used wet mud instead of cement.

Both stepped through the crack, with Croc having slightly more difficulty due to his large size, and made it out. Before the two was a massive body of water, a reservoir that spanned a few miles in length, and right behind them was the power plant Naruto received his electricity from. The air was slightly chilly, but with the cloak and clothes on Naruto could barely feel the cold. And even then, he could adapt to the temperature like plants could, albeit only to a slight degree due to his human nature.

"So you beat them?"

"Definitely not." Naruto said, admitting his defeat to Croc. "The two outclassed me by leaps and bounds in combat even if I wasn't using my own body. Had it not been for my false plant body, I'm fairly certain that I would have been taken into custody." The blonde lacked the arrogance and pride the criminals of Gotham had in copious amounts and readily admitted and accepted his loss to the pair. Knowing Naruto, Croc guessed that the blonde would soon begin to step up the training from the books he was gifted in order to be prepared for obstacles in his way.

The large reptilian man wondered if a television set, complete with different channels, and DVD's detailing different styles of fighting would be a good Christmas gift for Naruto and Ivy.

"We're still awhile from our destination," Croc stared into the distance, noting the sun that was vanishing behind Gotham's skyline, "It's a long walk from here, so we'll try to be as discreet as possible."

"Discreet..." Naruto furrowed his brows at his close friend's giant back, towering over him like a giant wall of muscle. The teen silently wondered if such a thing was accomplishable with his conspicuous body size. Brushing aside the thoughts for another time, Naruto concentrated for a few seconds before his skin slowly lost its green tint, turning into a a slightly tanned shade of white.

"Oh yeah, how old is Ivy going to be this year?"

Naruto smiled softly, "She's going to be nearly a year old." Then he sighed rather parentally, "She's growing up much too fast, perhaps I shouldn't have limited the growth of the bamboo in her."

"You'd better be careful with her," Croc grinned in a good natured way, baring his sharpened teeth as his lips stretched backwards, "The last thing you need is for her to get a boyfriend,"

Naruto scowled, showing his displeasure on the matter. The very thought of Ivy getting a boyfriend was worthy of the normally stoic boy getting upset.

Croc, sensing his friend's annoyance chose to quickly kill the subject, "Then again, knowing her, she'd probably kill them before they could even lay their hands on her! Bwhahahaha!"

Naruto seemed to calm down from Croc's words. "Yes... You're right, she would do that." He smiled proudly, glad that nobody would put their hands on her. He failed to see the amused smirk on Croc's face.

The two continued with their simple chit-chat to pass the time, slowly making their way towards the desired location.

* * *

Back at the home of Ivy and Naruto, the young girl, who had grown a little more since her last appearance.

"Gaaah!" Ivy fumed childishly to herself, "So boring!" The red head had no idea of where her pseudo-father had gone. He had only told her to stay put and to stay out of trouble. And being the obedient -to him only- girl she was, she obliged to the request. She stepped away from the central hub -what could be called the living room- of their home and made her way to an unused 'room'. The feeling of short and healthy golf grass beneath her feet slowly transitioned into soft, ticklish and slightly damp dark green moss that acted as a fantastic living carpet.

She headed to an empty part of their large home, which had been, yet again, expanded to fit more plants. There was no fear of the ceiling caving in though as Naruto had summoned thick pillars, which were actually just leafless trunks, to hold up the ceiling. It gave the area quite a quaint feel. There had also been curtains constructed to give each of them privacy. Each curtain was made from a variety of hanging plants weaved together intricately, separating different parts of the large area to form rooms.

In the past, there was no real need for privacy since Naruto lived alone. But as Ivy grew up, things such as the aforementioned curtains, toilet and multiple beds had been made created in the house with the use of their botanic abilities.

The curtain that was blocking her way shifted to the side as Ivy gently pushed it aside, making her way into the empty lot that was only inhabited by grass. Looking around and judging the size of the space, Ivy stuck her tongue out for a brief moment as she thought about what she wanted to summon.

Throwing her arms up as if she were lifting something, the ground broke apart and soil was pushed out of the way. A giant bud around twice the size of Ivy began to rise out of the ground. Rising up to around Ivy's waist, it split apart slowly, showing that it's insides were made of a smooth material that had multiple hairs on it, creating a fuzzy texture. As it unravelled it was shown that the insides of the bud was actually a cluster of pale green leaves that were named Lamb's Ears. The surface of the leaves sported a warm and fuzzy layer, and were also ridiculously large. They were estimated to be at least a hundred times larger than their normal counterparts grown and found elsewhere in the world due to Ivy having a hand in genetically improving them. Due to their humongous size, the Lamb's Ears Ivy had summoned could be used as a fantastic sofa for at most five average children or three adults.

Spinning around, Ivy spread her arms wide open and allowed herself to fall back into the newly made couch. She giggled as she rolled around before she calmed down, kicking her feet up and placing them on a leaf that was above her.

Ivy was, as she had already pointed out, bored. And as bored children would do, she began to daydream. As a child whose intelligence was beyond that of how she physically appeared, it wasn't surprising that her thoughts were much different from any other child's her age. Of course, even with her increased levels of knowledge, Ivy still held onto the personality and charm of a loveable child.

Not to mention that since she only had bare glimpses of the outside world and only gained information through Naruto, Godpa Croc and stolen books, she didn't have a face to put to different made up things such as dragons or unicorns. So it was understandable that roleplaying as a make-believe princess, something apparently girls her age did, was tough. In her head, dragons looked sort of like the lizards that crawled up and down the walls outside of her home, something she was accustomed to seeing since she lived in the sewers.

A better example was given to her by Naruto when she had asked, telling her that a dragon looked a lot like her Godpa, but with large wings at his shoulder blades.

Ugh. That princess fairytale book that Godpa Croc gave her didn't have anything about dragons or unicorns in them.

Apparently the dragon was a fearsome creature, capable of breathing fire! And often turned villages to ruins and knights -men wearing sardine cans as clothes- to heated up canned lunches. Ivy wasn't exactly sure why Naruto had made Godpa Croc as the example when her Godpa looked so cuddly and adorable. He was smell from all the swimming he did in the sewers, but... Um, cute nonetheless! Surely no one would be terrified if they caught sight of such an adorable creature, right?

At the time, Naruto had given a strange look to his pseudo-daughter, but shrugged it off as something she would grow out of.

On the other hand, the majestic unicorn that a majority of little girls would dream of riding upon while being held by a handsome prince as they played pretend had been turned into a diseased-ridden and disgusting sewer rat with a tiny horn in the middle of it's forehead. It was nothing alike the 'real' unicorn, who -in the minds of little girls- could gallop so fast that a rainbow lit trail would be left in their wake.

Yep. Definitely lacking in the department of imagination.

Ivy stopped for a moment and shot a glance over to the crack at the corner of the wall, noting the tiny whiskered snout that had poked through the wall and was busy sniffing about. Clearly, a disgusting unicorn had smelt the sweet aromas that their little paradise emitted.

Bringing her legs down and sitting upright, she rolled her eyes and made a swishing gesture with her limp hand. A tendril pushed its way out of the green-carpeted ground, just to the side of the crack and just out of sight of the annoying pest. It slowly curled into itself, preparing to strike at the cretin. Using the same hand, she whipped her wrist forwards, causing the thin but sturdy tendril to lash out at the protruding snout of the vermin. A pained squeak was heard and the frightened and possibly injured rat immediately turned tail and scampered back into the darkness, probably to spread the word to its fellows that the haven which contained an unimaginable amount of fresh fruits was incredibly dangerous.

Though, she highly doubt that being hurt would deter them. Those who starved would definitely risk it for the rewards, and critters of the sewers definitely starved most of the time. Either that or they gorged themselves on the garbage found surrounding their little paradise, and Ivy was not having any of those plague ridden pests inside of their home. None of it!

Snorting, Ivy fell back down again, this time leaving her legs where they were.

' _Life...'_ She lifted her hand up, allowing the thin digits to silhouette against the bright light that was right above her. The plant beneath her seemed to enjoy the light if its humming was any indication. Communicating with plants was as easy as breathing. Though they didn't speak verbally, they always... sort of... er... pulsed?

She supposed that was a good way of describing how they communicated with her.

They pulsed with emotions to speak to her, and she was certain that Naruto could feel them talk as well. She often received a vibe from her plants that made her feel motherly, which made sense since she was the one who created them.

Getting back on track about 'life'... Creating plants with nothing but soil took a significant amount of energy, mainly depending on what its functions were and what it could do.

If it were as simple as the Lamb's Ears she was currently lying on, it wouldn't take much, even if it was massive in size. Something like a giant snapping Venus fly-trap with powerful maws capable of tearing through thin steel would obviously take much more energy to spawn. It also depended on whether or not the plant life she had created had a mind of its own, which meant that they could act as guards she did not need to control. Of course, each and everyone of them was loyal to the end, and would not hesitate to give their lives up for her. Even thinking about trying to hurt her was impossible to say the least considering it was hard-wired into their heads that she was their 'Queen Bee'.

However, none of the plants she created were ever like her. Nor any other Naruto had created. She was too... complex and different from the other plants. None of the plants she created, or any other Naruto made, were bi-pedal humanoids like she herself was.

Ivy wondered just how exactly she was born. She never knew how Naruto had created her, and had never thought about her birth up until now. It wasn't something she could just ask after all, but she knew that she lacked a mother -somehow the idea of Naruto having someone to birth Ivy irked her, even if it was her mother- so she obviously wasn't conceived through 'normal' means. As such, Ivy logically concluded that she must've come from a plant.

But how?

She knew little about intercourse, but she sure did know that it was how humans reproduced. Since she was partially human as well, so could Naruto have...

Could he have... mated with a plant? To create her?

' _No! No! No! No! NOOO!' She denied vehemently, 'He wouldn't do that, right?'_ Ivy over-dramatically wailed and cupped her cheeks, beginning to thrash about on the couch childishly, thrashing about as if she was trying her best at doing an impression of a fish on land. Unconsciously, Ivy's tantrum caused large vines to sprout from the lush and mossy floor. They were thick and tall, and they too flailed about, apparently following her mistress's distress. Alas, it was just her merely throwing a minor temper tantrum. Eventually, she calmed down after her brief spasm session and curled up into a ball, all the while with her cheeks cupped.

The very idea of Naruto spooning a flower -her mother!?- in his and Ivy's bed -though they didn't exactly need sleep, it was still relaxing to take naps- whilst in the dark painted a hue of red on Ivy's cheeks, but also made her stomach very uncomfortable.

Definitely not!

Ivy uncurled from her ball and let her hands fall to her sides. Choosing to burn the image and delete it from her brain before she could remember it, Ivy took two steps back and returned back to her main point: Could she create someone like her?

Her emerald eyes twinkled as she visibly brightened up and her vivid green lips that matched the mossy floor quirked up into a smile. She had an idea and quickly rolled off the couch, intent on heading towards the area where Naruto kept most of his things. Knowing Naruto, he would definitely keep some sort of diary or journal around, perhaps pertaining towards her creation.

She briskly walked out of the room, brushing the curtains aside again. There was no need to remove the couch since they could simply remove it by making it grow in reverse. It was a process they used when shifting their living furniture around and was absolutely painless to plants. As Ivy moved through her house, she walked through many things not common to nature.

Ivy went past a number of miniature trees whose spread out branches doubled as seats and as holder for books. Some distance away, amidst a treasure cove made from glorious, green trees ripe to the brim with many bright multi-coloured fruits was a giant red mushroom with white polka dots that acted as a table. Surrounding the rather eccentric table was a ring of smaller mushrooms -also known as Fairy Rings- which could be used as stools. Ivy wasn't sure if it was intentional or not on Naruto's part since they were toadstools. That area was an unofficial spot for meals that involved digestion as Ivy or Naruto could simply stand and pluck an array of plump and pretty gem from the green sky with little to no trouble.

Passing by an apple tree, Ivy bounced on her heels and the thin-trunk of the tree bent downwards, creaking slightly as it allowed her to pluck one of its many succulent fruit. Ivy smiled with gratitude and petted the trunk of the tree as thanks while it got back to its still position. She took a large bite of the crunchy fruit and hummed elatedly at the sweet taste that filled her mouth, continuing onwards to her destination while she chewed.

"Mmm..." She paused mid-stride as she finished the last bite of the fruit, throwing it aside. The eaten core of the apple flew through the air haphazardly before it landed in a rather darkened patch of moss. Ivy didn't even glance back when the moss shifted and the remains of the apple slowly sank into the ground, as if it were being devoured by quicksand. It took a few more seconds before the core was out of sight, disposed of by one of Naruto's plant hybrids. That one in particular was a natural recycler, able to quickly turn waste into fertiliser which was much more convenient than a rubbish bin.

They were a pretty green family after all. Pun intended.

Reaching what appeared to be a workshop table made from a hollowed out trunk of a tree, Ivy took a gander at the numerous objects that heaped over each other on the messy table as if they were gold coins in a vault. Worn books, loose sheets of paper, and broken pencils littered the table and pushed under it was a stool.

Humming in thought, Ivy began to scratch her chin. "If I was Naruto... Where would I hide my things?" She immediately reached for the drawer and pulled it open, revealing to her large emerald globes a book bound in leather. The word 'Notes' was scribbled onto the cover messily with a permanent marker, written in Naruto's handwriting.

Her lips quirked up into a proud smirk, amused by how well she knew her progenitor.

"Not discreetly of course." They lived together with no one else around besides Godpa Croc coming over for visits. What was there to hide? He trusted her and vice-versa just as much. So it wasn't as if he was going to hide anything from her. Reaching in, she grabbed the book and placed it on the crammed desk while she shut the drawer with her other hand.

"Now..." She muttered, opening the cover, "Let's see what's in here..."

* * *

The route they had taken led them to a fairly quiet part of Gotham, where numerous buildings were vacant and empty and the uncommon car was found parked alongside the curb.

It was desolate to say the least, with the only noise coming only from the occasional cat scavenging through garbage bins that lined the entrances to alleyways. Without much people around to throw their garbage out, Naruto guessed that perhaps a few rats had made their homes in the cans and the cats were merely going for dinner. Judging by the horrified squeaks that came from the alleyway, a few of them had just been turned into meals.

Ignoring the demise of several rats, Naruto allowed his eyes to wander. The pace Croc had set was fairly slow since they weren't pressed for time. It was only the beginning of evening, and there was still a long night ahead of them so things were calm for now.

"I wonder why it's so empty." The blonde wondered aloud, his eyes roaming about the ghost town.

"Maybe it's because of the crime rate here." After Croc mentioned it, Naruto gave a critical eye to the buildings and noted that he could see a large number of holes in them, more than likely from the bullets. "A majority of turf wars are started here by the gangs of Gotham. Even without their bosses asking them to a large number of their henchmen choose to start them because they think they can get promoted by claiming territory for their bosses." Croc lifted a hand and pointed at the wall, where a dulled splatter mark stained the wall.

"Oh look, judging by the amount of blood, someone died there." He returned back to walking forwards, "And by the angle the poor soul probably got nicked in the neck by a bullet or a knife."

"How do you know?"

"I've seen a _lot_ of people dying in a _lot_ of different ways. Trust me when I say that I just know." Naruto concurred since he had little knowledge, while Croc on the other hand was an expert. He knew that Croc had killed his fair share of people, but was not disgusted, shocked or frightened in the least. Saying that he was detached from his humanity was not accurate, rather he was more jaded. He still felt a sense of humanity, obvious from his care of Ivy and Croc. Naruto didn't care all that much regarding the fates of the unfortunate criminals Croc disposed of, knowing that they weren't exactly good people who deserved to be free from the literal jaws of death.

Perhaps it was simply his past that left him in such a state. The way humans acted around something they couldn't understand, something that simply wasn't natural or normal to them, breeds fear into them. It would start off as a minute amount, festering inside of them. And in the past, since Naruto was bullied by other children, he stayed away from the general populace and kept to himself. This caused suspicion amongst the adults, who thought that he was up to no good. Whatever trouble the other kids caused was blamed onto him, and that fear and dislike grew larger and larger by the day.

You'd think that they'd appreciate someone with the ability to instantaneously grow thriving plants in infertile soil. Apparently not from the way he was treated.

Nevertheless, a majority of his memories from his old home to how he ended up in the sewers of Gotham was something he just couldn't remember. Just a faint blur at the back of his mind. It was as if everything wasn't significant enough for him to even bother remembering.

"Anyways, don't dwell too much about it." Croc said as the two walked past a rusty car whose paint was peeling badly, "This is the East End of Gotham. People get attacked here often and unless you're capable of defending yourself, which you definitely can, there's not much to fear besides muggers or robbers... or the occasional gang war. Y'know? Don't sweat the small stuff."

"Right..." Naruto muttered dryly, "The small stuff."

* * *

Selina Kyle was an ordinary girl, who lived an ordinary life.

However, depending on your definition of 'ordinary', it might be different from hers. Growing up in the derelict East End of Gotham was no laughing matter. It was a place where a midnight walk basically constituted as attempted suicide due to how dangerous it was. The Mafia, henchmen of villains, and even corrupt police officers prowled the streets, looking for a night with a prostitute or to market off their share of drugs, guns and other illegal goods.

Not only that, but the rate of crime had been so high at one point that a majority of the populace had to abandon it, either by car and bus - or by hearse.

The latter of which were more willing than the latter.

Of course, it wasn't as drastic as living in Sudan, Syria or some third-world country that lacked many things such as jobs, food, water and daily necessities or where children and teens her age were forcefully enlisted as child soldiers to fight and die for some pointless civil war.

And in Selina's book, 'ordinary' meant that it meant that she stole and thieved for a living under the guise of ' _Catgirl_ '. Her surrogate little sister, Holly Robinson, liked to teasingly call her _'Kitten'_. The reason for her name was pretty simple. She was a (cat) burglar and just really liked cats. To the point it was basically obsessive. The shared Kyle residence had become a hostel to many felines of all shapes and sizes. Holly often times joked during their meals that Selina would turn into one of those 'lonely, old cat ladies'. Selina snorted at the memory, playfully rolling her pretty globes.

She ran her fingers through her short, pixie hair and smirked as she remembered her snappy reply back at Holly, who, at the time, had been munching on a sandwich Selina bought.

 _'Bold words coming from the girl eating with the money I made.'_

But she admitted it for it was no actual secret. She loved felines to death and was, in fact, training one of them to assist her in stealing expensive objects. The cat picked to assist her in her heists was no other than her darling Isis!

Training for Isis was going... Er, smoothly in Selina's opinion. Even though she had shown Isis an example of what to steal, such as a phone or watch, her dear would often times return empty handed -she didn't really have hands, more like paws- or return back with a dead rat between her maws. Nevertheless, Selina was certain that it would only take a few more months before her cat would learn the difference between _'something I can sell for a meal'_ and _'meal'_.

Training would resume for Isis tonight when she returned from her nightly prowl.

"I wonder what's for dinner tonight." Selina mused aloud, mainly to herself as she sat on the ledge of a rather high complex building. Dressed in a tight, black tank-top, whilst being covered by a leather-jacket with faux fur around the neck, Selina absently played with the red tinted goggles in her hand, spinning the protective eye-wear round and round on her index finger by its adjustable strap. Using her free hand, she scratched at an itch at her toned, bare midriff, next to her exposed belly button. Her lower body starting from the hips was covered in black spandex leggings, capable of withstanding a ridiculous amount of stretching.

Her nose twitched and she paused mid-scratch when she caught scent of the familiar smell of smoke. Noting that the current air was still and calm, lacking in wind even at the fifth floor where there was little obstructions. She came to the conclusion that there could only have been one place it came from. Leaning forwards and peering between her slim thighs and down five floors she noted the small group of well-dressed men chatting below her, all of whom were smoking. Near them was a shiny, black land rover, parked perfectly by the curb.

From her angle, she caught sight of the many valuables they had on them. She wouldn't be able to take the golden rings on their fingers nor the pretty watches they had around their wrists without slicing them off but she would be able to make off with their wallets and phones as long as she could brush past them. Her nimble hands hadn't failed her before, and they definitely wouldn't fail her again.

She stopped toying with her goggles and stretched them over her head, wearing them loosely around her neck.

Reaching into the right side of her jacket, she pulled out a coiled bullwhip. It was a whip made from braided leather, an accessory she stole from a carnival that had passed through Gotham many years back. The accessory helped her in many ways, mainly being used as a grappling hook to assist her in travelling from place to place or to defend herself from thugs and the like.

The best part about it was that few were experts at using the whip like she was. So if her own weapon was taken from her by an enemy, they couldn't even use it against her!

Even though she had taken a good whipping at the hands of her own weapon whilst trying to master it, she was happy to say that she got a majority of the intermediate parts down. All she had to do was think of the whip as an extension of her hand, practise for years and viola! The trickiest part of learning how to use it was probably how to dislodge her whip when she was done using it as a grapple. That had definitely taken up at least seventy percent of her training but nowadays she could use it just as easily as she could use her right hand.

Flicking and unrolling it, she spun it around for a few seconds before flicking it forwards. The long whip travelled forwards and curled itself around the corner of the ledge that had a brick jutting out of it.

"Steal from the rich and feed the poor." She chuckled, slowly abseiling her way down as much as she could. Reaching the third floor before she ran out of rope, Selina kicked off the wall and quickly flicked her wrist about in many directions. Releasing her whip from it's latched position, Selina flipped through the air and landed gracefully on the ground floor. It seemed as though landing from a jump as high as two floors was no challenge for the up-and-coming thief. "I'm like Robin Hood." She smirked, "Except _not_ at all."

Selina brushed her clothes of invisible dust. It wasn't difficult for the beautiful teen to put on a seductive smile, something she could naturally do, and pretended to walk in a gait meant for women of the night. She hated to degrade herself, but sometimes it paid off to act well.

* * *

The members of the Maroni Family stood amongst each other, dressed in the usual outfits befitting members of Italian gangsters. They all puffed away at their cigars while they chatted amongst each other. Four of them had a distinct colour replacing the white handkerchief that usually sat at the bosom of their , which were red, purple, blue and orange. The other one, who seemed to be the leader, had a normal white one.

"Hey Leonardo. Did you know the boss put a bounty out?" This caught the attention of the men, all of whom were brothers, making all of their heads turn to him.

Leonardo, who bore a blue handkerchief, perked up in surprise. "Really Fausto?" Leonardo removed the lit, brown stick from his lips and released a lungful of smoke into the air, "Who's it on? And how much?" It wasn't rare that the mafia put out hits, but if this one happened to catch their unofficial leader's surprise, then it had to be good.

"Killer Croc," The group of men looked rather uncomfortable at the mention of the crocodilian man. None of them had seen the fearsome man in person, but they had all seen a picture of him before. A grotesque mix between a crocodile and a man that towered over all of them like a behemoth. Killer Croc was said to be the boogeyman of Gotham who would climb out of your toilet and into your home while you slept. Of course that was impossible, the brothers and Fausto knew that, but didn't mean that they took precautions when using the toilet. It was better safe than sorry after all.

"Shit... I wouldn't want to fuck with that guy." Michaelangelo, the one with orange, spoke up.

The one whose handkerchief was red nodded, "Yeah Fausto, that..." He struggled to find a word to describe Croc, blanching as he did. "Monster is a crazy one. I saw what was left of Alfio and Emilio's group in the last attack by the Falcones."

Donatello, bearing purple, grimaced, "Not pretty," Those who had seen what was left at the scene of the two shoot-outs nodded in agreement, "Just guts and limbs as leftovers. Pretty sure he ate them."

"No shit bro, have you seen the size of that bastard?" Raphael growl at his brother, "He could eat everyone here!"

"Quiet!" Fausto hushed the brothers. Once they were silent, he continued, "Look, the Croc might be a scary son of a bitch but the fucking bounty the boss put out is worth..." There was a brief pause as he built up the suspense. He licked his lips and swallowed hard, grinning widely.

"Twenty million. Cash." There was a sound of a whip cracking, but they just ignored it. Mainly because they weren't paying much attention to it. The thought of making that much money amongst themselves made the men lose their fears, yet their hearts still drummed on as if there was a war going on. But it was not fear that caused they to sweat and shake, but rather their over-imaginative thoughts, with a majority of them having already thought of what they were going to buy once they got their pay day from Croc's head. It was so exciting to them!

Fuelled by thoughts of the blood money the Mafia head would give them upon accomplishing their goals, the apparent ring leader began to rally his friends together with a speech.

"Look, the boss plans to hire some assassin to get rid of him, but what's the assassin going to do? Shoot him? We-We can do that too right?" He sputtered in disbelief, pointing towards every one of them. He received a unanimous nod of agreement amongst the other four.

"So I-I say that we team up, find this motherfucker and kill him by filling him up with bullets. Then we can claim the bounty and get promoted!" Fausto slammed his hand into the top of his palm to punctuate his sentence.

On naturally light feet, Selina slowly made her way out of the alley, walking towards the group of men fervently discussing amongst themselves. They seemed to be so into their discussion, they didn't even see Selina walking towards them.

"Oh shit, you're right!" Leonardo nodded to his friend's words, "W-We can do this!"

"Yeah! We'll split the money five ways and then call it a day!"

"But what're we only have pistols, how're we going to kill him, eh?"

Fausto smirked at his friend's worry and jabbed his finger at the land rover he owned. "Don't worry boys, it just so happens that I brought a few of my toys with me." Heading towards the car, all of them watched as Fausto opened the boot, revealing multiple shotguns and assault rifles.

Selina strutted past them, but it seemed as though they were too absorbed in whatever they were discussing to care. Even though that had dealt a blow to her 'womanly' side, her thieving nature didn't care much as she capitalised on this, taking the glaring opportunity to walk closer to them. Honestly, she was only going to pickpocket two of them since they were standing in a circle, maybe three with by using her body as a well placed distraction. But now with all their backs turned to her, she could pick all their pockets! This would be so much more profitable and very much easier than before!

"Whoa, Fausto that's some heavy fire-power. Why'd you bring this out?" Leonardo threw his arm around his friend's shoulder in a friendly manner. Unfortunately for him, he didn't feel his pocket getting significantly lighter. Fausto grinned, ignoring the woman that walked past him and his friends, not even noticing that she was awfully close to them. "Because I knew you boys wanted to go hunting with me, so let's go find this crocodile and gun him down!" Just like Leonardo and the rest of the gang members, Fausto failed to see and feel the slim hand reaching into his pocket, removing his rather pricey wallet that had a lovely number of large notes in it.

When they were done checking out the guns and calling dibs on which ones they wanted, they leaned back out and shut the boot.

"Alright, I'll call Dario to cover us double shift while we search-" Leonardo nodded as he began reaching for his back pocket. Suddenly, the cigar between his lips dropped to the ground, smouldering in the damp puddle from yesterday night's rain, "What the- Where's my phone?" He began rapidly patting his body down in an attempt to search for it.

"Did you forget your phone?" Fausto laughed cordially, reaching into his own pocket to offer his to Leonardo, "Then I'll use- What the fuck?! It was here a minute ago!"

Hearing yet another crack, they turned their heads and caught sight of Selina nearly halfway up a building. She had snapped her bullwhip all the way up to the metal railing of a balcony that popped out the side of the building, scaling the wall with haste. It took a second but with no other person in sight, even the rather dull-minded men quickly reached the conclusion that she had picked their pockets while they had been distracted by the sight of the guns.

Glancing over too the men, she freed one hand -the other supported her by gripping tightly onto the rope- and saluted them, "Thanks boys!" With her thanks said, she continued on her way up to the balcony.

"It's her!" When the men had finally taken action, Selina had already climbed onto the balcony and used it as a boost to reach the roof.

Looking back down, the girl waggled her fingers at them, eyes glimmering from behind her rose-tinted goggles.

* * *

The sound of whip being cracked repeatedly filled the air, but Croc paid it no heed. Naruto on the other hand, tilted his head to where the sound had come from and caught sight of a lithe silhouette running across the roof of a nearby building with what appeared to be a whip in one hand and a small bag in the other.

Despite being nearly a block away and up high, he could see her size and shape clear as day due. Judging from the frame of the person's silhouette, Naruto estimated it to be a girl around the age of his own, with a thin frame that spelt agile and flexible. But trading that for mass and a larger size would also mean that she was much more susceptible to injury.

She jumped off the side of the five story building, clearing a large gap between the one she had been running on and the next, and landed safely on the next apartment complex which was two floors shorter. Naruto was very impressed. If she was just a normal person, making such a leap without any fear, or visible injury, was stunning.

Though, with such a frame and a mysterious bag in her hands, he guessed that she was a thief or a pickpocket. He felt a little sympathy, his humanity kicking in. To be of such a age and surviving by such means, this city truly needed more help.

"What the fuck?! It was here a minute ago!"

"It's her!"

"She went up there! Get her!"

The sounds of faraway shouting and angry cries told Naruto that whomever she had just stolen from had just found out that they were missing their valuables-

 _BANG! BANG! BANG!_

-And from the gunshots that rang out in the silent evening, Naruto guessed that they were _expensive_ valuables she had made off with. It seemed as though she was unharmed from the shots since she continued to run without stopping.

"Shit! You two, circle around and shoot her down from the side. The three of us will go up and force her down!"

"Like I said," Croc coughed awkwardly, "Don't sweat the small stuff."

"Perhaps we should provide assistance," Naruto said as he stared at the girl desperately making her escape across the roof. "She looks like she could use it."

Croc turned around and stared at him, "Look Naruto, we're not heroes. I'm a villain more than anything, and you... Well I don't know what to classify you as, but we're not obligated to do anything for her."

"I know bu-" Naruto muttered, only to stop when a loud screech came from behind them. Turning to look behind, Naruto watched as a black land rover came turning down the road, headed straight for them. With eyesight superior to that of the average human, Naruto could easily see that the two sitting in the front seat of the vehicle were the ones who had been commanded to attack the girl. Glancing back at the girl running away, her silhouette seemed to morph into one resembling Ivy.

"But that doesn't mean that I'll just let her die."

Looking back at the car, Naruto slowly lifted a hand. Despite this the car still persisted and it even seemed as though it sped up a little with the intention of running Naruto and Croc over. He decided to force them to stop. Naruto lifted a foot and stomped hard on the ground, shattering the tarmac beneath his feet. The floor rumbled and as the car reached the two, a giant, sharpened root speared through the tarmac floor and impaled the car right down in the middle like an olive in a Martini. The root was similar in fashion to the pencil roots belonging one of the mangrove trees. The sharp root stabbed right through the bottom of the car and went through the roof as if were made from paper, and the vehicle was lifted nearly a metre off the ground.

Having been stooped suddenly, the momentum from the car still carried the two forwards, and having foolishly decided not to use any seatbelts they were defenestrated from the car. Being forcefully ejected from their vehicle, the two men, Raphael and Michaelangelo, landed in a heap. They were conscious, but very much shaken from the incident. Naruto gestured to the two.

"Mafia. And by the looks of their clothes, Maroni." Croc subconsciously wiped the sweat off his face, "If they'd been Falcone, I might've lost my job." Naruto rolled his eyes at his friend's strange priorities.

"I'll leave these two to you." With that said, Naruto turned and faced the buildings the girl had been running on and leaned forwards like an Olympic sprinter. Unseen to all due to the trousers he wore, Naruto's legs tensed up like coiled springs before he released them. Cracking the floor beneath him, Naruto took to the skies. Meanwhile Croc sighed, shaking his head.

"That boy and his kindness. One day it's gonna get him killed." Glancing at the pair on the ground, he walked forwards and took his hat off, tossing it to the side haphazardly. It took the Maroni Family members a few seconds, but their eyes finally stopped rolling around in their heads and they finally got a look at the large, large man before them.

"Oh shit! It's him!" Michaelangelo yelped at the sight of Croc's face.

"Shoot the fucker! Kill him!"

Although somewhat shaken, the two struggled slightly before quickly pulling out the gun they carried at their hips at all times. Each brandishing a shiny revolver, they took lifted it with shaky hands and pointed the firearm at the colossal man-beast before them. Yet, before they could fire their guns, the pair found their revolver wielding hands crushed by the vice grip of Croc, who had shot both his hands out, wrapped them around their wrists and crushed them to little more than splinters with his immense strength. All of which was faster than they could pull the trigger. It was embarrassing, really. To see grown men who extorted businesses, murdered without sympathy, and beat up innocents crying and mumbling incoherently. Of course none of this was unwarranted. Having your hands, flesh and bones, smashed would definitely induce a majority into tears.

"AAAAAGGGHHH!" Both men screamed in agony. On the other side of the spectrum, Croc seemed absolutely nonchalant about the situation. In fact, he was even going to give them some interesting information!

"Fun fact, crocodiles have a bite force of 3,700 pounds per square inch. The **highest** in the Animal Kingdom, just in case you didn't know." He told them informatively as the pair squirmed and squealed in pain, pulling at their trapped arm thinking that they could somehow set themselves free. It was much too late though, considering that their appendage was more than likely a mangled mess of flesh, blood, splintered bones and metal. "I, on the other hand, have a **grip** force of three quarters of that. Admittedly I'm not very clever and I have no idea what 'pounds per square inch' means, but I do like the sound of large numbers." He did indeed. Bank notes with a one at the beginning and lots of zeros following up behind it were lovely things to see.

"Pl-Please! W-We weren't gonna-argh!- do anything!" Michaelangelo pleaded for the beastly man for release.

"Ho?" Croc found the situation they were in very amusing, "Does that include the part where you pulled your guns on me? Well, I'm not one to hold grudges so I'll give ya a chance. Go on, fire away." Croc kept silent for a moment as he waited for them to do so but they merely screamed, kicked at his shins and bawled their eyes out at the hopelessness of the situation. After a full minute of this endless cycle, Croc seemed to get slightly impatient.

"Come on, don't keep a man waiting for so long..." There was a pause before the two men continued with their useless assault on Croc. Taking that as a negative to his previous demand, Croc tilted his head to the side. "What's that? Ya **can't** shoot?"

Raphael, much like the teenage mutant ninja turtle whom he was named after, spat at Croc with a teary glare.

"FU-FUCK YOU!" Croc was unimpressed with the brave façade the man was putting up.

Tugging his arms back, the two men were jerked forwards and onto their knees before Croc. Croc placed his face close to theirs, craning his neck forwards to do so. There was still quite some distance between them due to his elongated snout. Raphael and Michaelangelo gagged harshly when they caught a whiff of the familiar, putrid scent of death and decay. It was a smell both were accustomed to, having cleared a number of bodies during the entirety of their careers as members of the Maroni Family since they were lowly grunts. But this scent came blasting into their faces with every exhale, more than likely past victims the monster had cannibalised.

"Remember what I said about crocodile's having the highest bite force in the Animal Kingdom?" His breath, warm and moist, hit them in the face, causing both men to gag. His lips pulled back to show off his yellowish teeth and as his jaws opened wide, and the gristly sight allowed them to see that each of the tiny daggers he called his teeth were the size of their index finger. A ferocious roar came rolling out of his large throat like thunder and it slammed into their fleshy bodies, shaking them down to their cores.

" _ **MINE'S EVEN STRONGER!"**_

Both men released a one of a kind scream, often heard when someone saw death looming over them with a not-so-friendly, bony hand on their shoulder.

" _GAAAAAAAAAHHH!"_

Savouring their last scream with delight, the massive cannibal took a large chomp out of both men.

* * *

Naruto fell back downwards and onto the roof, smashing the flat concrete flooring he had landed on. Up ahead, he could see the men who had climbed up to the fifth floor at an impressive speed through the use of the many ladders found by the sides of alleys. They had just pulled out their guns, ready to fire downwards at the next building where Selina, who was still running, had jumped earlier on to. With a frown directed at himself at how slow he was, Naruto clenched a fist tightly as if he were pulling something and swung it in front of him, swinging a right handed punch that curved all the way to the left. And at the same time he did so, giant wooden pillar sprung out from street-level, shaking the floor, ripping up chunks of tarmac and bursting underground water pipes.

Debris fell from the sky like rain as the pillar of wood rose, and it only stopped once it reached the same height as Naruto. Commanded by its creator, the wooden pillar twisted and turned after rising, yet it did not creak nor did it splinter like how wood normally would. Instead, this material seemed much more malleable and flexible than any other kind of tree out there.

"Holy shit! What is that thing?!" Donatello screamed as the giant pillar appeared next to them. No one had any time to respond as the impact of the pillar slamming into the roof shook the empty building, causing the men to stagger and fall over. The side of the building as well as the roof where the pillar had landed on suffered a large amount of damage, with numerous cobweb cracks spreading out from the large point of impact.

Selina, who had finally stopped running, turned and stared in shock at the massive wooden noodle that lay horizontal on the building behind her. She supposed that it, whatever it was, had saved her from being turned into Swiss cheese. She gulped deeply. Past victims of her thefts often were clueless, but there had been one or two to attack her with a knife, but she had quickly put them down with the use of her whip. But guns? That was another problem entirely. Perhaps it had been a mistake stealing from them.

Whoever, or whatever, it was that had saved her, she definitely owed them one. There was no point in staying now. Selina wanted to quickly leave, sell her ill gotten gains for cheap at the black-market and head home already. Tonight had been an absolute mess and she just wanted to take a nap in the comfort of her home with Holly and her many purring darlings. Who knew? Maybe she would even meet whomever it was that had saved her another day!

Faced with the pillar blocking their way and sight, the man staggered back in shock. Fausto spun around and faced Naruto, a scowl on his face as he tried to comprehend everything that was going on tonight. "Who the fuck are you?!" Naruto did not deign to answer the member's question. Instead, the blonde, who had lost his hat while in the air, charged the men. His normal -to other humans- skin reverted back to it's original state and the green hue caused the men to stare yet again in confusion.

"Fucking freak..." Leonardo mumbled to himself while the boy got closer, "Shoot him!" Naruto chose that moment to move even fast that before, kicking off the floor and blasting straight towards them like a rocket. Getting closer, he slowed himself down and moved swiftly, sliding into action with unrefined grace and indefinite strength.

Before cocking his fist, he reminded himself to throw his shoulder before the rest of his arm to ensure that he attained maximum punching force. His legs sped up, not wanting to get shot, and he bounced on his heel right as he delivered a jaw-shattering uppercut to Fausto. Fausto had zero time to react at all as Naruto entered his defences, right between his arms. Since the teen was considerably shorter than him, a fully grown man, Naruto had enough space to perform his little hop. The momentum -from his little bounce travelled to his upper body and then his arm- gave Naruto even more power in his rising fist and he felt the connection between his fist and Fausto's face.

The force was so great, it had launched Fausto nearly a metre up into the air like a tree being uprooted by a hurricane. The loud crack Naruto heard may have come from his lower jaw being forcefully shut, and the blonde guessed that a couple of the man's teeth had gone loose. Though, that would be the least of his problems seeing as how he took a punch that could shatter concrete to the face. The medical books Naruto frequently, thoroughly read explained that if enough force was exerted onto the skull, death would be guaranteed. The way his head had snapped back while he was in the air would've given him whiplash and the damage from that would be most significant to the brain and spine. The man was probably dead or near death by the time he was in the air, but strangely, Naruto felt no remorse for that.

He wondered if it was because he had spent so much time in the presence of a killer? Surely that wouldn't be logical. Listening and hearing about killing and actually killing were two separate things. But such thoughts were not important as of yet, he still had two more men to deal with.

Meanwhile, having passed his momentum on to the man who had crumpled like paper, Naruto still hung in the air. Taking the opportunity since he was between both men, he decided to see if his daily stretching paid off. Turning to face Naruto, the two men quickly lifted their guns only to find a well-made leather shoe buried into their chests. In time it took for both men to aim at the teen between them, Naruto had opened his legs out in a perfect split, kicking one of them square in the chest while the other got hit in the shoulder. Naruto's speed had been inhumanly, rightly so since he wasn't much 'man' compared to the two unfortunate souls he had just kicked.

Leonardo and Donatello tumbled backwards. However, Donatello was not quite as fortunate as Leonardo, who had landed on the cold, cement roof. He had stumbled backwards and tripped over the ledge of the building due to how close he was.

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" His shrill scream pierced the night like a lance, and he desperately tried to claw his way through the air with one arm as if it were water. The other arm had been dislocated by Naruto and was now flapping uselessly in the wind. Distress was evident on his face, and before he vanished from Naruto's view, the man tried to reach out for the wooden pillar, trying to hug it to slow his quick descent -it was more like a plummet, really- back to the ground floor. Naruto stared blankly and watched as Donatello vanished beyond the ledge. That last look on his face before he disappeared... It was probably one the man had seen on the face of his past victims. Perhaps his apathetic attitude towards their deaths was just his way of adapting to Gotham, affected at a subconscious level by the things Croc told him about the criminals of the world. Deep within his chest, he felt a familiar feeling but he quashed it down, thinking nothing of it. In some ways, they too were the ones who adapted to their surroundings. Living in Gotham was harsh, so they turned to a life of crime in order to survive.

Adapting was key in nature. Survival of the fittest was the game every species played. From mammals, amphibians, fishes, insects, birds, to plants - every single living and breathing organism, each one of them played the game. Many of the lower classifications under the giant umbrella from each category had died off time and time again, falling off the charts due to extinction, but many others lived on for millions of years. Proof of that was animals from today having lived in the age of dinosaurs. And in the long run, the one who survived last would win the game of adaptation. And like the plants he could create and control, Naruto could adapt psychologically as well.

Naruto scoffed softly at the detailed explanation. Whatever the case, he didn't exactly care to know. He wasn't about to give himself a psych examination just because he felt so detached from the deaths of a few horrible people. It would something else entirely if it was the deaths of Ivy and Croc, and he knew losing both of them would send him spiralling into a fit of anger, depression, or both.

Snapping out of his thoughts, Naruto walked over to the gasping Leonardo, who was weakly clutching at his chest. His sternum had snapped from Naruto's kick, causing his chest to cave inwards. Breathing alone was causing the man agonising pain, as if someone had tied rubber bands around his lungs while he breathed. His exhales and inhales were weak and each was followed by a raspy wheeze, showing just how difficult it was to breath. The blonde squatted next to the man and peered down into his frightened eyes.

"I don't exactly find the act of taking people's lives to be enjoyable, nor do I want to." Naruto frowned a little. He had never killed an animal, let alone a human, but when it came to it, Naruto could be very sadistic. Face still expressionless, Naruto stared down at the man on the floor, whose life was in his hands. "Granted, your two friends were the first two I think I've ever killed. But be that as it may, if I have to kill you to keep you from harming Ivy in the future, then you can be sure that I will." Naruto was not afraid to kill, nor was he afraid to kill for those whom he actually cared about. Naruto reached into the pocket of his pants and pulled out a tiny, brow pouch that was sealed with a simple string.

"This is my pocket dirt. It's ordinary dirt, dirt that you can find around the city." He admitted, "But it's rather handy in situation like these where there's not much dirt to be found." Naruto tugged at the string and allowed the opening to come loose. Naruto then placed the unsealed bag onto the centre of Leonardo's chest and before the mobster knew it, a thin, green vine danced it's way out of the opening of the pouch. It was like the boy next to him was charming a snake, or in this case, a vine. The vine, just like Leonardo's eyes and surprise, grew longer and longer until it was long enough to wrap itself around his neck multiple times.

"I think this is the part where I let you live, before I regret my decision when you inevitably cause me problems in the future." Leonardo wasn't sure if he should be afraid. Surely there was no way something as thin as that could strangle him right?

"So I'll save us both the time and effort for you to live, and just kill you now. Of course, I'm not going to touch you. I've left enough evidence as it is," Naruto said in regards to the destruction around him, all of which was caused by him, "I'm going to let my creation do it for me."

A minute later, Leonardo was made painfully aware that a vine as thin as that could indeed strangle him to death. As his body went limp, Naruto sent the vine away and sealed his little bag of sand and pocketed it, leaving behind the bodies of the two mobsters on the roof, and another five floors down. Ready to leave, Naruto jumped onto his wooden pillar and made it move once again.

* * *

Licking his lips clean of blood, Croc picked up the lower half of the corpses by their legs -of which he wanted no part of since eating genitals was not something he liked, and also because they had pissed themselves- of the two men and flung them into a nearby alley. They landed behind the garbage bin with a wet smack, coating the floor with a generous amount of blood. The rats could feast tonight. He on the other hand was content with the evening snack. "I love the taste of macaroni. It's been a while since I've had it! Bwahahaha!"It had been a few months since he last snacked on Maroni members and if he remembered clearly, it was when Ivy was still a baby.

He bent down and picked his hat back up, smiling as Naruto came down on the top of his wooden pillar as if it were an elevator. The pillar retracted back into the ground and even after Naruto stepped off onto solid ground, it continued to disappear into the earth, leaving behind a giant hole in the damaged road.

"How did it go? Your first kill?" He looked at the body next to where the pillar had been. The body was in disarray, as his limbs were in a tangle and one of the bones from the man's elbow was sticking out of his clothes. The crimson that had spilled out of the crack on his head was similar to the colour Ivy's hair was, if not one or two shades darker. Croc corrected himself, "Or kills, rather."

"It wasn't anything special." Naruto shrugged as he put his hat back on, "It was much easier than I thought it would be. I learnt first hand that humans are much more frail than I thought they were." They were like glass, easily broken and fragile. A well placed punch from him would shatter the bodies of those who lacked a high muscle density and high bone mass. He was lucky that he could control his strength to the point it was that of a normal man's, if not he'd have a lot trouble going about his day performing simple tasks.

Croc laughed as he gave himself a once over, checking if he had gotten any of his meal's blood on himself, "Not all of them. That damned Bat and his sidekick are way tougher than these useless thugs." Once he was sure that he was completely clear of blood, Croc looked at Naruto, "Anyways, what about that girl you saved?"

The teen glanced to the building Selina had jumped to and shook his head, turning back to Croc as he did, "Gone." He snapped his fingers and the root that had lifted up the vehicle the two mobsters used began to wither. It didn't take long until the car fell back to the ground, having nothing but dust that had been blown away in the wind to support it.

"Oh well. She probably thought you were out to kill her as well." Both males looked to the sky, noting how much darker it had gotten, "Well, we better get a move on before it gets really dark. It'd probably be nice to get away from the scene of the crime. Lord knows the GCPD are on their way." The larger male gestured to the general vicinity and how destroyed it was due to Naruto and his powers over mother nature herself. Naruto agreed and both quickly made their way out of the damaged part of the East End of Gotham, intending on completing their goal for the night.

* * *

Ivy's green globes scanned the pages from left to right, then they went on to the next line before repeating the process again. Her eyes took in the information, passing it on to her childish but highly intelligent brain. Her fingers drummed away at the tabletop as she read, stopping only when she flipped over to the next page.

On the page, much like the others she had read before it, the same style of messiness was scribbled hastily in black. It seemed as thought Naruto had been... excited.

* * *

' _Poison Ivy'_

 _After many nights of ruminating I have finally stumbled upon the perfect way of creating what I have in mind. One who is similar to me, capable of manipulating nature as well as speech. The experiment may possibly fail yet again, however I am fairly certain that_

 _Starting off with the empty seed I plan to house the DNA in, I shall be putting in several 'ingredients'. After which I implant my own DNA and those of which I wish to have 'Poison Ivy' to have. Planting the DNA of a large number of the most poisonous and toxic flora to have ever existed means that Ivy will have an overall immunity to all poisons and toxins. This also means that Ivy will be able to use them since poisons and toxins, and will be capable of self-defence. I have also chosen to add in the appropriate amount of bamboo, one that I have genetically altered to halt at a certain time to prevent overgrowth. This will ensure that by the time it stops, Ivy will be -around- the same age as I. It will not be instantaneous, but Ivy will grow over -what I estimate to be- a year and a half before reaching maturity._

 _My mistake for all my other failed 'children' before Ivy would have to be the fact that I lacked the use of a seed, a suitable home for the 'child' while they developed. Much like a mother's womb, the seed will protect and keep Ivy safe during growth. The seed will eventually grow -according to my calculations- at an exponential rate until it can no longer hold Ivy, before sprouting Ivy out as a baby._

 _For some reason I feel as thought Ivy might be a girl... And she will be perfect_. Ivy was unable to contain a blush from rising from her cheeks at the mention of her being perfect.

* * *

 _It has been_ **-** Ivy was unable to make out the time since Naruto had unfortunately spilled a blotch of ink onto the page- _and the seed containing Ivy has grown as I had predicted. It won't be long until Ivy is born._

 _I am undoubtedly excited for her birth._ The handwriting at this point was very jerky, as if his hands had been shaking while he wrote.

* * *

 _Results of 'Poison Ivy' was a success. As expected, Ivy turned out to be a beautiful girl with crimson hair and green-tinted skin, much like mine. Although I am not exactly sure where her hair came from, I am guessing that it would be a recessive gene from my own DNA. Much like mine, her green-tinted skin is full of chlorophyll, toxins and poisons. I am unsure if she can control the ability and use it at will, or if it is unstable and she cannot control it but that will be figured out at a later time. Regardless I shall raise her as best as I can and educate her in my-_ the word 'my' was struck out and replaced _-our home._

* * *

That was the last entry in the book and Ivy closed it before falling backwards onto the stool he frequently sat in. It was a lot to soak in. She was pretty grateful that Naruto hadn't procreated with a flower to make her, not to mention that but she was touched and pretty amazed by how dedicated Naruto had been to try to create her. Well, not exactly her but... Oh never mind.

Looking at where she had stopped in the notebook and how many pages there were before it, she realised just how many of his tries had failed before it finally worked on her. Judging by the past names of his failed 'children', she supposed she wouldn't have been born had any of them been successful, so she was, albeit in a twisted sense, thankful that they had not made it lest she wouldn't have been born.

Although it boosted her ego a little a the thought that she had been the one to finally success when all the others had failed, she admitted that it was mainly due to Naruto's change in method that caused her birth. And for that she was thankful. But now with knowledge of her recorded birth she realised that the answer to her previous statement was right there in her hands! Naruto's notebook had supplied her with the information she needed to create... Her own child? Or would it be a sibling? Whatever the case, it was the boredom that drove her to want to create one. She too would have to experiment more since Naruto didn't go into too much detail, presumable because he kept most of his notes in his head, but Ivy was sure that she could try as well.

Firstly, she needed a seed that was 'empty', a base that would allow the rest of the DNA to rest on while it developed she presumed. It was actually ingenious to have used a seed and allowing the child to develop inside of it over time.

Without any gestures, a coiled plant sprouted from the floor next to her and unfurled. Still reading the book, she lazily stretched a hand out and the plant finally unrolled, handing her a seed, one that looked much like an acorn, that was as basic as could be. Next she needed to implant the DNA she wanted into it, which would be the DNA of whatever she wanted. That was when she stopped to think. The plant slowly retracted back into the ground as she absently ran her thumb over the smooth shell of the seed, deep in thought.

What plant DNA would be good to add into the genetic brew that would eventually be her creation?

Borrowing one of Naruto's many pencils and a loose scrap of paper, she began listing down what she thought would be great. She wasn't going to treat this creation of hers the same way Naruto did. Certainly not. A companion would be nice, yes but she didn't want a child! That would be very troubling for Naruto, who would have to take care of both of them.

Perhaps... A companion that had multiple purposes? Capable of increased regeneration, growth and was sturdy and strong enough to survive whatever was thrown at it sounded like a nice start. Though she didn't want it to be able to reproduce at all. Something that could reproduce quickly and was difficult to get rid of would be more bad than good since it would upset the balance of nature, which Naruto did not want. Having the ability to glow in the dark sounded useful as well if they ever got to a point where they required light.

With that idea in mind, she began to scribble down what she wanted in her creation, intent on making it work.

* * *

The blaring sirens filled the night and whirling lights of the many police vehicles painted the destroyed street in red and blue hues. GCPD Officers, cadets and a small number of detectives travelled back and forth the whole three blocks, which was cordoned off with bright yellow tape. A few of them took pictures of the large scale destruction of the apartment complex and the road, discussing the event amongst themselves. Some stood a safe distance away from the large hole next to the apartment complex that had been made in the floor as well as the black land rover that had been pierced top to bottom, writing down what they observed. From the entrance of the building, two pairs of paramedics carried off two covered stretchers, followed closely by a few officers with cameras.

"We're giving them the green light to remove the bodies from the roof since we've taken enough photos and marked the place out." An officer reported to the only man not wearing the standard outfit of the GCPD, "Just thought I should let you know, sir." The officer nodded to his superior, Commissioner Loeb, who was watching as they draped a white sheet over the mangled corpse of the last man to cover the body up. They had already taken enough photos in all angles, so there was no need to expose his body any further.

The slightly pudgy man dressed in a blue overcoat took his hat off and wiped his forehead of sweat. Three Maroni family members killed in one night wasn't something that was all that interesting, mostly because the Falcone and Maroni members killed each other off at a near daily basis, but this one was particularly interesting because of the destruction. What on earth could've caused such damage? There were no fingerprints nor much evidence of a second party to be found at the scene at all, which was rather irritating for the commissioner since he just wanted to get home to get a good night's sleep.

"Alright, carry on." The officer turned and left, headed in the vicinity of the other officers, presumably to assist in finding more clues.

"Commissioner Loeb!" A youthful cadet called to the head of the GCPD as he ran towards him, "We've, um, found two more..." He trailed off, looking rather pale, "But they've been... Uh..."

The head of the GCPD frowned a little at his subordinate's hesitance, wondering why the boy was turning a little green. Loeb was not known for his patience, and snorted. "Come on, out with it boy."

"They've been... um... bisected, sir..." The cadet clarified, "The problem is that we, uh, couldn't find the upper-halves of their bodies... But we've... er, identified them as Raphael and Michaelangelo Tartaruga, sir. They're members of the Maroni as well as relatives to the other three bodies we found."

Loeb sighed and rubbed his eyes, wondering to himself which ones of Gotham's freaks did it this time. Noting that the cadet had wide eyes and had begun to look rather sickly, he shooed the youthful cadet and told the young man to take a short breather before the youngster regurgitated his dinner onto his new shoes. Unfortunately for Loeb, another person approached the annoyed officer, who was trying to rub the sleep out of his eyes.

This time it was a forensics detective, who bore news.

"Sir, it appears that the bodies of Raphael and Michaelangelo have the same markings as the ones from the previous crime scenes involving the Falcone and Maroni. Our current suspect is still the same, with it currently being Killer Croc." He adjusted his glasses as he waited for his superior to respond.

"So it's nothing new." Loeb shrugged, "Great. Jus-just tell the men to keep an eye out for the guy." He waved the detective off, yawning loudly as he did. The forensics scientist rolled his eyes at his superior before leaving the same way the officer did. Loeb wondered where his coffee was and left to grab a cup to keep himself awake. Perhaps while he was at it, he could have a doughnut as well. Maybe two. Or a dozen. It was all the same to the commissioner.

Yet, despite the large amount of security in one area, the many officers failed to notice a suspicious, expensive black car stopping a block away for a brief moment before it drove off into the night.

* * *

 _Harry reached into his pocket and pulled out the buzzing phone, picking up the call with haste._

 _"Yes sir...? " He paused when his boss spoke, "Yes, I'm here with the man I have in mind..." He paused again as the unintelligible chatter spoke, and Harry nodded despite his boss, Sal, being unable to see him. "Yes sir, I have heard about it. I was just about to discuss with him the hit... Alright sir. Take care, good bye." Harry quietly turned his phone off before placing it back into his pocket._

 _"So, can we discuss business now?" The man on the opposite side of the table stared at him, one of his eyes glowing a bright red._

* * *

 _Chapter End_

* * *

Sorry this took so long to come out. I was still charting out the story and how it'll play out. So I hope that you can find it in your hearts to forgive me!

Talking about this chapter... I didn't particularly like writing it very much. Mainly the middle part. I don't know why but I just found it challenging to write half-way through when Naruto and Croc met the Mafia. I suppose my heart just wasn't into it, leading to -in my opinion- sloppy writing. I think it might be the copious amounts of dialogue. Tell me how you feel about it in the reviews because I didn't like it much.

I decided to use Deadshot in the stead of Deathstroke because... Well, let's be honest Deathstroke is pretty overused in Naruto crossovers with DC. I wanted to use a bounty hunter that was recognisable, yet underused in comparison to DC's number 1 assassin.

Next chapter will cover the rest of Croc and Naruto's adventure to the black-market. And I wonder what Ivy could be creating? Any guesses?


End file.
